Cyber Hornet ETFs co-founder and CEO Michael Willis got his start on Wall Street.
After exploring markets such as Jacksonville, Miami and Fort Lauderdale, he decided to build a foundation for his company in St. Petersburg – where he has lived for the past few years. The team moved into a 2,900-square-foot office in the 200 Central building three weeks ago.
Cyber Hornet ETFs offers a S&P 500 and cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund with a blend of 75% stocks and 25% Bitcoin.
The S&P 500 is a stock market index that includes 500 of the largest publicly traded companies in the U.S. Cryptocurrency is a digital payment asset that does not require a central authority or bank. Options include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Solana.
The company, which was originally called ONEFUND Trust, initially launched a S&P 500 index fund. It began to offer a crypto exchange-traded fund in December 2023.
Cyber Hornet ETFs filed four new products with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and they are slated to be released in the next few weeks. These will feature other crypto assets.
“We became bitcoiners about seven years ago and realized that the S&P 500 needed a bit of an upgrade. It needed a crypto component,” Willis explained. “The concept was to help bridge traditional financial markets to decentralized markets through SEC-regulated exchanges and ETFs.”
By mixing stocks and cryptocurrency, this can provide individuals with a total portfolio strategy.
“We bring in some of these new technologies that investors want to get into – but it’s just too much risk for them to go into 100%,” he said. “That’s why we marry the best of both worlds.”
While Cyber Hornet ETFs operated remotely for a period of time, Willis decided that having a physical office was key to the company’s next phase.
He began to look for a space in October – the same month the organization completed a $5.5 million seed round. Former Bass Pro Shops president and chief operating officer Jim Hagale was the lead investor.
“Crypto is the future,” he said, “and the reason is because it’s just faster and there’s less friction.”
Even payment applications like Venmo and PayPal use a banking structure. Crypto assets can be sent directly to individuals without “someone else’s permission.”
The importance of this, Willis continued, is that over a billion people are unbanked or do not have a bank account. Individuals only need a smartphone to purchase cryptocurrency.
Cyber Hornet ETFs filed a future 100% crypto product with the SEC earlier this month.